adventblog25

 Happy Christmas Eve! Ive recently made a new friend who comes from the southern part of India.  She is a beautiful woman with a beautiful family and it has been a joy getting to know her a little since she started coming along to church.  A few weeks ago I was visiting her and her new baby girl.  The house was toasty warm and I commented on the difference between the chill weather outside and the cosy feeling within the home.  This led us on to a conversation about autumn and the fact that in India there is no such thing.  In India there is either searing, paralysing heat, or there are monsoons.  Nothing in between.  So when Elsa and her family landed in Ireland they couldn't believe the seasonal changes in the weather or indeed how cold it gets here.  They were completely unprepared for the winter and had to immediately go out and buy jumpers and warm coats.   Shortly after this conversation I went on a fortnights road trip round ...

 Josh came home on Sunday afternoon and on Sunday evening Keith Josh and I went to Sam and Ben's church for a carol service where the whole family was together, sitting side by side singing harmonies to some favourite carols.  And I thought that life doesnt get much better really.  One boy married to a lovely girl from a lovely family who adore Sam.  One boy home for the holidays from a job he is enjoying and the youngest thriving in the last year of his Uni course, having secured funding for a Masters next year. His lovely girlfriend Grace seems to be a permanent feature and we are all delighted about that.  Today, right now, everyone is healthy and happy and going well with Jesus.  Tomorrow that might change. But today I'm most definitely counting my blessings. The carol service sermon focused on the shepherd.  Bethlehem being the city of David, the shepherd king.  The angels appearing to the poor and lowly.  Jesus the shepherd King being l...

 Yesterday morning we had our Instant Nativity in church.  This involved all the children and included a cast of two donkeys, a fox and a bear, three stars, several angels , two wise men (one of them was a wise woman) and one King Herod. Three innkeepers, a Mary a Joseph and a decidedly plastic baby Jesus. Oh, and some shepherds, one of whom was 2 yrs old and spent the entire time ' driving' his sheep round the stage like a car.  The donkeys spent a good part of the show wrestling each other.  The angels needed a considerable amount of coercion to get on and off the stage.  It was every bit as mad as you would expect. Of course the whole point was for the children to have fun, to feel included and to dress up.  Oh and to learn about the real meaning of Christmas.  You might think that everyone knows about the real meaning of Christmas, but I was watching something on the news or some news-type thing the other day and was horrified to realise just how m...

 Ive managed to get to within spitting distance of Christmas without actually mentioning this Christmas much at all.  Its been an odd blog this year but I thank you for allowing me to delve into the topic of fear and sort out my thinking about it.  For the last three days I shall endeavour to delight you with deep and meaningful prophetic insights as in years gone by. The past several days have been hideously annoying.  My car was playing up so I booked it in with my wonderful mechanic, Ray last Wednesday.  Wednesday teatime he said it was ready to pick up but Keith wasnt home till after closing so on Thursday he dropped me down to pick it up.  I went into the office to pay and realised Id left my purse at home.  Bother.  Told Ray Id be back in ten minutes and drove home to get the purse.  Halfway back to the mechanics the car shuddered to a complete halt.  Phoned Keith who came to rescue me and I limped the car into the garage and left ...

 Last week in church I realised something, or remembered something. Or rather God nudged me.  I was feeling a bit sorry for myself.  Only a little bit, but I recognised that at this time of year in particular it is easy to feel a bit taken for granted.  Well, it is for me anyway.   I throw myself into all the christmas stuff, go the extra mile, make an effort and quite often I feel that nobody particularly notices or appreciates it.  Which is of course a lie,  they do notice and they mostly appreciate.  But when Im busy and tired it can be easy to listen to the wrong voices. Sometimes living in a family of adults feels like living in a student squat.  Everyone does their own thing. Nobody tidies up after themselves. Someone else's washing is always in the machine...... moan moan moan. And poor me, I am overworked and underpaid and I dont deserve this life.  Sound familiar? Ive put in a big effort in church this year, as I do every y...

 Id written the blog for today (Ill probably post that one tomorrow) but just before I was about to read it over and tweak it I was thinking about what to write for the last couple of days and I think I heard the Lord say '' have a look at the word 'ready' ''     Its a word we hear all the time at this time of year.  Are you ready for Christmas?  Everyone you speak to this week, from the postman to your granny will ask you this question.  As I was thinking about this I was wondering why it is that we feel the need to be ready for what is just another day of the week.  On Christmas day we will wake up, brush our teeth , get dressed. Eat. Talk to people. Watch some telly. Go to bed.  All the things we usually do every day.  Yes, granted we will also open some presents, eat more food than we usually do and possibly go for a walk or play a board game with people we might not normally see on a daily basis.   But it's not that far o...

  Now since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity, so that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death, that is, the devil,   15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.  Hebrews 2 I apologise that this Advent Blog has been so serious.  When I started out this year I didnt think Id still be writing about fear on day 19.  But there is so much to talk about! This might be the last day and maybe the last few will be a bit more lighthearted. We shall see. Anyhow, what fear really all boils down to in all of its manifestations is the fear of death.  When you peel back the facade of every fear and dig down into what its all about it comes back to this.  The reason Adam and Eve had absolutely no fear in the Garden of Eden was because there was no death. Hebrews tells us that we are all, for all of our lives, held in slavery by the fear of death. This is why we can live free...

Ann said something in response to the post about trauma (day 9) which has been bothering me ever since. When I asked if she had been able to seek prayer support from her church she replied 'No, I never had the opportunity to ask for prayer about the fear. We weren't in that kind of a church.' I probably dont need to say anything much about that statement. But it's easy to criticise and bemoan the sate of other peoples churches and tut tut at their shortcomings without removing the plank from our own eyes. How easy do we, do I, make it for people in my congregation to express their deepest, most secret. painful, vulnerable stuff? Ann was a ministers wife. Her husband, the minister, was dying. The congregation must have been in fear and turmoil themselves. Its even harder for clergy to reach out for help than it is for us regular bods. But it is hard for everyone. And we, church, need to be so much better at helping. The other thing that someone said this week w...

 Lets have a look at a few of the times Jesus told people not to fear.  This is going to be a bit of a list because you all know the Bible passages - its more to show an overview of the range of situations He addresses. 1) Mark 6 :47-52 ( The Message ) Late at night, the boat was far out at sea; Jesus was still by himself on land. He could see his men struggling with the oars, the wind having come up against them. At about four o’clock in the morning, Jesus came toward them, walking on the sea. He intended to go right by them. But when they saw him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost and screamed, scared to death. Jesus was quick to comfort them: “Courage! It’s me. Don’t be afraid.” As soon as he climbed into the boat, the wind died down. They were stunned, shaking their heads, wondering what was going on. The Greek word for courage is tharseo which means inner strength - courage from within. When Jesus comes to us He infuses us with this inner courage. And His pre...

 Thanks for sticking with me so far.  Im hoping that much of what Ive said over the past couple of weeks has not, in fact, applied to you.  Im hoping that you are not an anxious, fearful, phobic, worried person.  But if you are then I hope you might be feeling,if not less so, then at least a bit encouraged that there might be a different way.  That fear is not your lot. Today we look at something that will most definitely apply to all of us.  How to deal with the anxiety and fear in others.  1) Fear is highly contagious.  Dont ask me how I know this, I just do.  I've seen it operating in families where kids ' catch' the anxiety of their parents and partners ' catch' it from each other.  I've experienced the feeling of stress and mild panic when dealing with people who are paralysed with fear.  I think that the fear that is in and around other people will seek out our gifts and attach to them.  So my calling is to be an exhorter...

 We currently live on a farm. The other day, quite by accident (obviously) I came face to face with a bull.  I was cutting across a field. I knew there were cows in a different field quite a way off so I wasn't expecting to come round a corner, over the brow of a small hill and see a bull slowly getting up from where he had been hidden in the grass. He was big. And he wasn't very happy. You know that cartoon thing where the bull has steam coming out of his nose and is pawing the ground, head down, looking menacing?  Well, to be fair my bull didnt really have any noticeable horns.  But he was huge, he was only about ten feet away. He was between me and the gate and he was definitely disgruntled.  He was pawing the ground and grunting loudly.  I was not frightened. Which was quite interesting.  I'll try to describe my thought process in this unexpected and somewhat dangerous situation I saw the bull and the bull saw me. I stopped and stood very still and...

Today we are taking a look at the armour of God. We all know the scripture in Ephesians but we have maybe never thought about the armour in relation to fear and how we fight it. Many many years ago when I was first learning to pray with people I would often find myself wanting to place my hand on or over the person's stomach.  It seemed to me the natural thing to do, and then I learned that the guts are the seat of emotions and the place where the enemy sometimes stirs up trouble.  The stomach is where heart rending sobs seem to come from when God is deeply moving.  Jesus talked about that sucker-punch of compassion He felt in His guts when He saw the lost.  Deliverance is also often experienced as nausea and sometimes full on vomiting as the enemy is forced to release his hold over peoples emotions.  So it is not surprising that one of the pieces of armour God provides for us goes round our middle.  Truth girds our loins. Truth covers the seat of ou...

  https://www.facebook.com/watch/?ref=saved&v=2073090916840681 This is Charlie Makesey (author ) talking about the fear he sometimes feels which seems to come out of nowhere and doesn't have a specific trigger.    I really really like Charlie.  Not only is he a superb artist and a massively sensitive author, he seems to be a truly lovely, humble, christ-like man.  It makes me in equal parts sad and cross to know that he struggles with fear. It makes me want to get my sword out and stomp and shout at the enemy.  The enemy is always looking for a weak spot to attack us ( especially people who are speaking for Jesus in the public realm)  I dont know where fear got into Charlies life but Im thankful that despite feeling the 'out of the blue' panic he chooses to do what He does for Jesus with the grace and honesty we see here. Theres a saying which people sometimes use about fear.  ' Feel the fear and do it anyway'.  When I went to look for an...

  “Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. But the Lord of hosts, Him you shall honor as holy. Let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread. And He will become a sanctuary.” Isaiah 8:12-14 If there was ever an era in history where that word ' conspiracy' is relevant it is now.  With the advent of the internet we suddenly find ourselves absolutely drowning in information and opinions and theories and speculation about anything and everything.  Its becoming harder and harder to know what is actually true.  And this is only going to get worse as AI takes hold and spins its web.  Theres some really interesting research about the decline in mental health of young people over the past couple of decades.  Proportion of young people aged 14-24 in England with a presentation to primary care for a mental health problem from 2000 to 2023 (Youth Futures FOundation) It's simplistic to blame this a...

  After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi [ a ]  from the east came to Jerusalem     and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him. ”  When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. (Matthew 2:2) He was ' disturbed'. That translation makes us think that Herod was a little bit bothered, slightly annoyed perhaps, at the news of a possible new King arriving on the scene. But the word translated as ' disturbed' actually means to agitate, trouble (a thing, by the movement of its parts to and fro) 1a) to cause one inward commotion, take away his calmness of mind, disturb his equanimity 1b) to disquiet, make restless 1c) to stir up 1d) to trouble 1d1) to strike one's spirit with fear and dread 1e) to render anxious or distressed 1f) to perplex the mind of one by suggesting scruples or doubts Herod wasnt jus...

 Umm, its been a bit intense the past couple of days. Thank you to those who have shared so vulnerably.  Thats what this is all about.  But for now, back to Christmas. 😊 The other people who were told not to fear in the accounts of the birth of Jesus are the shepherds   And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.     An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.     But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.     Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.     This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. (luke 2 8-12) Terrified.  Properly freaked out. Bone-shakingly, sick-feeling, panic-rising scared.  Not surprisi...